UK tourism is thought to be in outstanding health in advance of London 2012, as a record number of international visitors flew into Britain during April.

Figures produced by VisitBritain show that not only did the UK pull in more tourists than any other April, but their spending amounts grew significantly, breakingtravelnews.com reports.

Visitor levels and spending levels both increased by 10 per cent in fact, as a massive 2.9 million inbound tourists injected an extra £1.4 billion into the British economy. In a period that is traditionally one of the quietest for inbound tourism, it has come as a bit of a surprise that both holiday and business passengers increased so significantly.

The news is giving high hopes that the success could continue right through to the London 2012 Olympic Games. Whilst the Games take place, event spaces, hotels, restaurants and other areas of the hospitality industry are expected to flourish.

VisitBritain’s strategy and communications, director, Patrician Yates told bighospitality.co.uk: “The first few months of the year are traditionally a quiet period for visits to the UK, so to see a record month like this with an increase of 10 per cent in both visits and spend is encouraging.”

Yates then lauded the £25 million GREAT image campaign, which has been running in key inbound markets around the world since February.

She said: “[It] aims to entice a greater number of people to choose Britain for their next holiday and with the London 2012 Games on our horizons, we hope that these positive April figures are an early indication that our message is getting through.”